The Effects of Viewing a Demonstration Video on University Students’ Awareness and Actual Behaviour Regarding Kitchen Knife Skills

Abstract

The effects of viewing a demonstration video on university students' acquiring the skill of using a kitchen knife were examined. The changes in their awareness and actual behaviour before and after viewing were compared. The video presented explicit instructions for twelve items in the following three categories: 1) physical posture (5 items), 2) handling of a kitchen knife (4 items), and 3) how to slice the material (3 items).

The analysis of the data shows viewing the video had a positive effect on the subjects' awareness of the instructional items, and repeated viewing helped them retain those items. Although behavioural acquisition as a result of viewing was not observed, it was suggested that the items on physical posture were more liable to improve or improved faster, compared to those on handling of a kitchen knife and how to slice the material.

In terms of the relationship between subjects' awareness and actual behaviour, two types of discrepancies were confirmed: the ‘awareness > behaviour type' and ‘awareness < behaviour type'. In the former type, they were well aware of the instructional items, but behaviour was not accompanied as much. In the latter, they properly behaved according to the instructional items although they did not pay special attention to the items. The number of the items of the former type was large while that of the latter type was small.